Hillary needs to stay in the center lane to position herself for the general election. She needs to let Bernie have the far-left lane all to himself.

None of the GOPiggy have that option. As far right as they can get (tax cuts for billionaires, more war, less Medicare and Social Security), they can’t outflank T-Rump.

Hillary needs to stay in the center lane to position herself for the general election. She needs to let Bernie have the far-left lane all to himself.

None of the GOPiggy have that option. As far right as they can get (tax cuts for billionaires, more war, less Medicare and Social Security), they can’t outflank T-Rump.

Finally caught the taped version of the debate. Full disclosure: Picked “Downton Abbey” over it. ;^)

I get why progressives prefer Bernie given the left-right trend of the puritanical visions of the Democatic-Republican bases but 2 huge points. While Hillary’s pragmatism is unappealing compared to Bernie’s populism, Bernie is a bit of a crackpot.

Medicare for all is not what you want. I learned a bit about Medicare about 5 years ago as the legal guardian of my mother confined in a nursing home with dementia. Bernie’s numbers on stuff like single-payer healthcare and ‘free’ college education always sound too good to be true. In the case of Medicare, I think he’s shoveling a lot of bulls**t.

Medicare, IMHO, is a poor model for universal health care. Certainly, his statement that he’ll save the middle-class $5,000/year pure nonsense.

Medicare premiums when you retire for Plan A may indeed be cheap but it only covers hospitalization. Plan B needs to be added for preventive care. Plan D for drugs (which is a huge complicated mess not offering comprehensive drug coverage). Still, there renmains so many gaps in Medicare coverage. So, like most members of the middle-class, I opted for ‘Medigap’ coverage to expand her coverage. Even 5 years ago that cost nearly $400. Add all the parts together and it ain’t necessarily cheap. But wait there’s more!

The costs of Medicare don’t end there. How come Medicare is so cheap? Well, look at your paycheck for the Medicare payroll deduction. So we’re pre-paying our retirement healthcare. Put everyone of every age on Medicare and that goes away. Where do you get all that money?

Breaking up the banks demagoguery. Yeah, all progressives lap up the demagoguery on big banks post Great Recession. Having read the “Big Short” (recommended reading for all), Hillary is correct. Brokerages like Solomon Brothers and Goldman Sachs were what caused the banks to falter. We need a solid firewall between them and banks.

Bernie’s cry to break up the big banks with the buzz phrase “too big to fail” is bulls**t because smaller, weaker banks aren’t going to be any more safe than and strong than big ones. Nor are we going to let a bunch of small banks fail. Why? Because banks are where businesses (and even government) keep funds and if they fail then many businesses collapse with them.

The sad truth is it takes very large banks to compete in international finance. Financial management is one of the few areas where America shines internationally.

I live in Virginia. My dumba** legislature kept our banks small. Guess what? All the major banks in Virginia no longer exist as independent institutions. They all got gobbled up. We don’t want our banks to be broken up and become subsidiaries for foreign banks.

Might one express ones delight at finding a from page of Newshounds with not a single reference to the Abominable Trump, surely the ugliest American of them all.

Just a general comment. I’m in Nevada, and have been in CA all week. As a Bernie fan, I’m encouraged by the love I’ve seen out here.

Hillary is a bit too hawkish for me.

All sound pretty good on foreign policy.

Good shot at Trump by Bernie on climate.

They’re freezing poor old MOM out.

Ouch! HRC is catching it from both sides literally on her coziness with Wall Street.

David Lindsay, that would be fine with me.

I’m not registered with any party and I’d vote for any of these guys over a Republican. But I wish Clinton would stop attacking Bernie. It’s not making me any fonder of her and we need all our firepower against the GOP.

If I understand the mechanics of legislation, a COBRA can be added to any piece of already existing legislation. I see a the ACA gaining a COBRA just as soon as the D’s can gain control.

I had a chat with a hospital administrator about ACA when I was there for some routine blood tests. She called it a good start but it needs to be improved. She thought it would not be difficult to improve it.

I’d love Medicare for all but I’d settle for better ACA. I have to say I think HRC made a good point about what’s possible.

Big argument about improving ACA (Clinton) vs. Medicare for all (Sanders).

MOM backed up HRC on the ACA. Bernie is right of course, but we’ve gotta settle for what we can get from the asshole Rs.

I have to do some deskwork in my office, where I don’t have a TV so I’m watching online.